Surfing Saturday

For the first time in weeks there were rideable waves at the ocean front in Virginia Beach. I met a surf buddy of mine and my office manager - she is learning to surf - at the beach early this morning and spent several hours in the water. Overall, it was gorgeous although we are still having smoke drift into this area from the wild fires in northeast North Carolina and in the Great Dismal Swamp which have been burning for over three weeks now. It was not too bad at the beach where I was (Croatan/Pendleton), but to the north the smoke was much heavier and one could barely see the high rise hotels in the main resort strip. I suspect some of the tourists were none too happy.

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I think the beach early in the morning is when it's the most beautiful. This morning, the crowds had not yet arrived and it was mostly just the surfers in the water, the brown pelicans were flying in single file formations over the waves, and pods of dolphin were swimming around among the surfers. It's always amusing to me that the old guys are among the first surfers out in the morning and usually get the best waves. The young eye candy comes straggling in later, most likely after partying the night before. There were definitely some real lookers in the water as well as on the beach.

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All in all, it was a great outing, although I can definitely feel the results of all the paddling in my shoulders and neck. But, I suspect I will rally so that I can go to The Wave for my weekly dancing/aerobic exercise workout. The picture below gives a sense of what this morning was like when I first arrived at the beach. To actually be able to see live images of the beach where I usually surf, go here (it takes the cam a few seconds to load). Looking at the cam now, it looks like we got the best of the waves this morning.